I was reading a random book on Italian surnames when I was startled to come across a passage that outlines a saying which was prevalent in England and pokes fun at the Bugg and, by extension, Buggy names. But having grown up with the Buggy name I remembered all the schoolyard jokes, so I guess it’s not much of a surprise after all. The passage reads:

“During the French Revolution it was ruled that no individual could have any other name, or names, except as stated on the birth certificate. Similar conditions prevailed in the past in England as we can easily deduce from a half-humorous, self-serious byword: If human beings had a voice no one would be a Bugg by choice.”

From page 26 of Our Italian Surnames, published in 1949 and written by Joseph Guerin Fucilla.